Improvement in reversible door-latches



@e233 titties @anni THOMAS LYONS, OF HARTFORD, ASSIGNOR TO RUSSELL AND ERWIN MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, OF NEW'BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 87,-784, dated Mer/rch 16, 1869.

IMPROVEMET IN REVERSIBLE DOOR-LATCHES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame.

To all whom it ma/y concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs Lyons, of Hartford, in the county of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Locks; and I do herebydeclare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure l isa view of the interior of the lock, the top plateof the case being removed.

Figure 2 shows the relation of the parts when the latch is drawn forward, so as to clear the mortise in the face-plate, and in positiontov be reversed.

Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, are detailed parts.

My invention relates to that class of locks in which the latch is capable of reversal, so as -to suit a door opening either to the right or to the left.

Various devices have been contrived for this end, some of which involve thedivision of the hub, so that a portion bf it, upon the withdrawal of the knob-spindle, can slide within the walls of the case, and thus have the latch so connected with the horse-shoe, by a supplemental plate, that it can be drawn forward for reversal, independently of the mechanism for working the latch, which the spindle of the knob controls.

The present invention resides in an improvement in the means by which a well-known vresult can be attained.` and involves such a division of the horse-shoe plate as will allow, under certain conditions, .that porltion with which the latch is connected to be drawn forward for reversal without affecting the hub further than to rock it slightly on its axis.

Inthe drawings- A represents the ordinary case of a lock.

B B', the 'horse-shoe plate, and

C, the hub, or follower.

The horse-shoe plate, instead of' being of one entire piece, is divided into two parts, with one of which, B, the latch D is connected, by means of the shank a, whose end is furnished with a button-head, b.

The form ofthe latch, and its shank, as well as the yoke by which it is connected with the plate B', and

which are not peculiar, are clearly shown at figs. 4 and 6.

The two parts of the horse-shoe plate are severally capable of operating the latch when the hub is turned by the knob-spindlealthongh such latch is directly connected with the portion B' alone, there being, upon the portion B, a fixed piece or pin, c, projecting above its face, which, when the wing d, of the follower C, acts to give movement to the portion B, brings up against a xed pin or raised piece, e, upon the portion B', when both portions of the horse-shoe plate will move together, and the latch-be drawn within the case.

For convenience, the raised piece c is made of sncn form, that its front end can overlap the plate B', and take av bearing against the straddle-yoke f, upon the latter, While its near end affords a point for the spring E to act against in projecting the latch from the case, when not retracted by the follower C. Y

The extent of the forward movement of the portion B is limited by the ear-piece g, bringing up against a fixed stop, h, projecting from the rim of the case, while. the extent of forward movement of the portion B is limited, ordinarily, by a movable stop, F.

Itwill be seen that between the raised pieces or pins Y and e there is a clearance of three-sixteenths of an i'i il or so. Now, if it be desired to reverse the latclnjrt s apparent that upon holding the lock-caserpsidefdown,

the portion of the horse-shoe plate B' will be relieved vfrom the stop F, (fig. 2,) whereupon the latch can be drawn beyond the face-plate far enough to bring its squared portion outside the mortise in the face-plate, and be readily reversed. This extra forward movement, so given to the plate B', is accompanied by a rocking ofthe hub C, but this does not embarrass the operation of reversing the latch.

What I claim as myA invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, vis- The combination of the hub, or follower, C, the divided ho'rse-shoe plate B and B', provided with the pins c and e, or their mechanical equivalents, and the reversible latch D, substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

THOMAS LYON S.

Witnesses:

L. WOODRUFF, H. E. RUSSELL, 2d. 

